Hi there, if you want to set a an initial value, you need to turn the string into the instance of the Date prototype. Try the code shown below:

import React, { Component } from "react";
import { MDBDatePicker, MDBContainer, MDBBtn } from "mdbreact";

class DatePickerPage extends Component {
  state = {
    date: new Date('03.25.1992')
  }

  updateStateValue = value => this.setState({ date: value });

  setDate = date => this.setState({ date: new Date(date) })

  render() {
    return (
      <MDBContainer>

        <div className="d-flex align-items-center">
          <MDBDatePicker value={this.state.date ? this.state.date : undefined} getValue={this.updateStateValue} />
          <MDBBtn onClick={() => this.setDate("10.20.2020")} size="sm" className="ml-4">Set Date "10.20.2020"</MDBBtn>
        </div>
      </MDBContainer>
    );
  }
}

export default DatePickerPage;